Nikolai Nikonorovich Dubovskoy
(1859-1918)
Nikolai Nikonorovich Dubovskoy, a famous Russian landscape artist, was born on December 5, 1859 in Novocherkassk. In his childhood he studied in military school in Kiev, and dedicated all his free time to painting. When he was 17 years old he entered Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, where he studied in 1877-1881. He was taught art by M. K. Klodt. From 1884 Dubovskoy joined the Itinerants. The same year the young artist exhibited his painting “The Winter” at the itinerants’ exhibition. It produced a great impression on everybody. P. M. Tretyakov bought “The Winter” for his collection. After the success Dubovskoy painted a lot of great pictures, which made him popular. Among them are: “The Early Spring” (1886), “Silence Has Settled” (1890), “The Morning in the Mountains”, “The Winter Evening”, “On the Volga” (1892 and 1903). The painting “Silence Has Settled” was bought by the Tsar for his gallery. After that P. M. Tretyakov ordered the copy of the picture, as the painting had become unavailable for the audience. In 1900 Dubovskoy was the only Russian artist to be given the silver medal for his paintings “Silence Has Settled” and “The Calm” at the art exhibition in Paris. From 1911 he became a landscape art teacher in Academy of Arts. Dubovskoy also travelled a lot. He visited Europe 5 times. He visited all European museums and knew many European artists. All in all he created 400 pictures and about 1000 sketches. On December 10, 1913 Dubovskoy wrote a letter to the Head of Novocherkassk board. In his letter he suggested creating an art gallery in his native town. He was eager to present the art gallery with his own collection of paintings which consisted of his own works and the works of his friends- the intinerants. But at that time The First World War began and the museum was not built. N. N. Dubovskoy died of heart failure on February 28, 1918 .
